It is tempting when you are shopping online or in the shops to spend a bit more than you planned to do.

After all you can always cut back on spending elsewhere or reduce your saving for the future.

Save early and enjoy your retirement more

But the truth is we do need to save for tomorrow.

And basically, the earlier you start, the better off you’re going to be.

If you’re planning to retire at 65 with an income of about £19,000 (including your state pension), an average 25 year-old needs to save 16 per cent of their income (£370 per month).

A 35 year-old would need to save 23 per cent of their income (£550 per month), and a 45 year-old would need to save 39 per cent (£900 per month).

The take away from these figures is clear – get saving early and have a plan you can stick to.

Thanks to the Government’s auto-enrolment programme, unless they’re opting out, almost everyone is contributing to a pension.

In fact, according to the Department for Work and Pensions, 84 per cent of employees are saving, with a large increase in younger workers.

We’ll always be able to find something we’d rather spend on our money on in the here and now, but to guarantee ourselves a comfortable retirement, the earlier we start putting our funds aside the better.

After all we all want to look forward to retirement, not dread it because we will be living in poverty.

As I always say – retirement is one long holiday, or the longest period of unemployment.

How you plan for it makes the difference.

No individual investment advice is given, nor intended to be given in this article and no liability will be accepted in respect of any action you may take as a result of reading this.

If you are unsure you are urged to take independent investment advice.

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